With all the excitement surrounding the 30th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back – a true masterpiece by any definition of the word — it got me thinking about the iconic films of my childhood that left such a permanent impression that I can still vividly recall the experience of seeing them for very first time in a theatre. Not the look of the multiplex or the color of the seats, but how these movies made me feel. How they transported me into their world to the point that when the lights came up it felt like an unwelcome alarm clock on a school day.

I’m probably forgetting some but between my twelfth and sixteenth birthdays these were the epic cinematic moments of my life: Superman: The Movie, Star Wars, Empire, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Spy Who Loved Me, and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Each not only blew my young mind with their simple but effective stories, unforgettable scores, and beloved (and hated) characters, but to this day each holds up marvelously. This can’t be said for every film that came out during this time of my life, so you have to credit the films and filmmakers. They just are that good. Each transcends the blockbuster spectacle and deserves a place among the greatest films ever made. 

And the moments! That’s what really keeps each of these triumphs forever in our hearts. Superman saving Lois Lane that first time still gives me chills; the opening of Star Wars with the music and ships overhead; Indy escaping that first tomb; James Bond skiing off a cliff; Kirk dropping Khan’s shields and Spock dying; Vader emerging victorious at the end of Empire. Good grief, processing that ate up the rest of the summer. 

(more…)

Even before “Star Trek” launches into the stratosphere this weekend, director JJ Abrams is taking a victory lap.

With the film hogging 81% of all ticket sales at Fandango.com as well as the covers of Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly and Wired (which Abrams guest edited), the director has just done a great sit down with Charlie Rose. 

Now Rose can be an enormous chucklehead when interviewing Hollywood types (especially pretty ones), but that doesn’t matter. Abrams is smart enough to make it interesting on his own.

He talks about the influence of Richard Donner’s “Superman,” which he says gave “a kind of legitimacy” to comic book subjects they’d never received before. Donner “respected the characters as much as the audience,” Abrams says. “They were funny. They were real.” (more…)